HARDWOOD RECORD 



35 



plugging avray at the problem for a time emerged with a scheme 

 nhich they submitted to the boss and got approval on. It provided 

 for a more systematic and direct arrangement of the machinery, and 

 eliminated most of the shafts and gearing. When they put the 

 scheme into effect, they found that the old power plant, which had 

 been groaning under the load imposed by the former conditions, 

 was niiw able to carry the mill, even with its new equipment, along 



so smoothly that there was no comparison. The mill had simply been 

 using a lot of pofrer it didn't need. 



Poor transmission systems frequently use up over fifty per cent 

 of the total power production, and including friction and other 

 unavoidable loses, it often happens that the effective machinery 

 in the plant receives about twenty-five per cent of the power that is 

 turned out of the engine. G. D. C, Jr. 



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Utilization of Hardwoods 



The rapidly increasing use of motor trucks of various sizes 

 lie light delivery wagon to the seveu-tou Juggernaut which lords it 

 u\er all the vehicles of heavy traffic, has created a new field for thi- 

 employment of hardwoods which, in time, bids fair to be very close to 

 the top of the list in importance, both in the quality of the wood 

 demanded and the quantity consumed. 



The bodies of these vehicles of the day demand materials in ke?ri- 

 ing with the costly and intricate mechanism of their motive power, 

 and some of the models turned out for such uses as that of the 

 better department stores, for instance, are not to be surpassed in 

 appearance or fiae- 

 ness of finish by the 

 most aristocratic of 

 the pleasure cars. 



It is a fact, too. 

 that more care is- 

 being devoted to the 

 manufacture of bod- 

 ies than formerly In 

 the earlier days of 

 the motor truck iu- 

 iustry, which is not 

 so very long ago. 

 the manufacturer 

 was content to turn 

 out the chassis, upon 

 which he mounted 

 only a mere bottom, 

 leaving to the de- 

 vices of the pur- 

 chaser the matter 

 of fitting it with the 

 particular style of 

 body suited to his 

 individual require- 

 ments. This is no 

 longer the case. In 

 fact, the usual pro- 

 cedure is precisely the opposite. Some of the leading manufacturers 

 receive the motor and chassis from another factory and merely assem- 

 ble it ou their floor and devote their entire attention to the work 

 of preparing the body of the truck for the exact needs of the cus- 

 tomer 's business. 



Many manufacturers, with large factories and capacities, make no 

 stock trucks whatever, confining themselves to turning out vehicles 

 to the special order of their customers. For example, a truck of 

 seven tons' capacity was recently constructed by a middle western 

 concern on the detailed orders of one of the largest corporations in 

 the country, one of the chief requirements being that it be just as 

 large as the measurements of the house in which it was to be sheltered 

 would permit! 



The factory turned out a monster, measuring a few inches over 

 seventeen feet in length and seven feet five inches wide, yet so de- 

 signed as to be beautifully proportioned and almost incapable of 

 being loaded beyond the limits of its power to pick up the load and 

 walk off with it. 



ARTICLr: .-^IXTY-TIIKEE 

 THE MANUFACTUEE OF MOTOR TRUCKS 



from 



CONSTRUCTING TKUCK BODY. SHOWINC Wdiin tsi:ii 



The material most in use in the manufacture of motor truck bodies 

 is, the best grade of white oak. The bottoms, sUls and cross members 

 are made of this wood, in various dimensions, depending in some 

 degree upon the size and capacity of the truck. For instance, in the 

 big machine just referred to, the bottom boards were one and one- 

 quarter inches thick and seven inches wide; the sills were of two- 

 inch material, the end cross-members measured two and one-half 

 inches and the others two and one-quarter inches, dressed. These 

 figures will illustrate graphically the quality of the material required, 

 as well as the strength of the vehicle itself. 



The length of the 

 bodies and hence of 

 the boards required 

 for use in the bot- 

 toms, ranges from 

 ."even to thirteen 

 feet, although some- 

 times an order is 

 received which ne- 

 lessitates longer 

 lengths, sometimes 

 running as high as 

 sixteen feet. Some 

 makers use three and 

 one-half inch widths, 

 although the better 

 practice seems to be 

 to use wider boards. 

 Narrow tongued-and- 

 grooved bottom 

 boards, of course, 

 make a tighter bot- 

 tom s^or the time 

 beingj but an abso- 

 lutely tight bottom 

 is not necessary, as 

 a rule, in a truck of 

 any sort, and the 

 greater number of edges exposed to the weather in the narrower widths 

 give just so many more opportunities for the beginning of decay. 

 There is a limit to the width, however, as excessive dimensions in this 

 direction would split too readily under rough work. Ten inches is 

 about as wide as boards can be used for motor truck bottoms, and 

 they are usually narrower. Ordinarily the width is adjusted so 

 that the boards will be of equal size and seven inches is about the 

 best width. 



Wheels usually come to the factory ready to go ou the truck, 

 although there are some concerns which manufacture everything that 

 goes into the vehicle. Spokes and felloes are of second-growth 

 hickory, as in the better sorts of wagons. Another place where 

 hixkory finds a use in the motor truck is on heavy machines which 

 are built without solid sides, the supports being stakes and slats. 

 Stakes used on such trucks are of hickory, the side slats being of ash. 

 Ash is also the material found best for the framework of the 

 tops of light delivery trucks, whether the covering is of solid wood or 

 of some woven fabric, such as canvas or other waterproof material. 



